On March 15, Miki, a white bichon frise, wandered away from her owner's home in St. Petersburg. By 6:20 p.m., someone found Miki and took the dog, valued at $1,000, to Pinellas County Animal Control, 12450 Walsingham Road, in Largo.

After dropping off the dog, signs went up for a lost white bichon frise. The person who found Miki called the owner, Kasia Rogozinska, 30, but when she called the shelter she was told they did not have a white bichon frise.

Rogozinska filed a report with the Sheriff's Office.

Miki was left in the after-hours dropoff cage with the door closed. But the padlock went unnoticed and unlocked.

Surveillance video from a nearby business showed that less than an hour after Miki was dropped off, a couple pulled up to the shelter in a 1993 or 1995 light green or teal Honda. A man and a woman left a large dark-colored dog but took Miki.

The couple did not fill out dropoff paperwork so detectives do not know their identities.

Pinellas sheriff's deputies said they haven't heard of another case like this. Signs at the shelter clearly indicate that dogs can't be taken and anyone who takes one will be prosecuted.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Ward Snyder at (727) 582-6200.